The Barna Group just released the results of its annual YouthPoll, which considers the faith practices of American teenagers. The article characterizes the faith of teenagers as a “picture of contrasts”:
Teenagers are consistently among the most religiously active Americans, with nearly six out of every 10 teens engaged in some type of group spiritual activity in a typical week. Yet, the spirituality of teenagers is also remarkably diverse and fluid.
According to David Kinnaman, president of Barna Group and director of this research:
“While there is still much vibrancy to teen spirituality, it seems to be ‘thinning out.’ Teenagers view religious involvement partly as a way to maintain their all-important relationships. Yet perhaps technology such as social networking is reconfiguring teens’ needs for relationships and continual connectivity, diminishing the role of certain spiritual forms of engagement in their lives. Talking to God may be losing out to Facebook.”
So What?
Teenagers continue to be more spiritual than the population at large, yet their participation in a variety of faith practices is waning. The current YouthPoll shows the lowest participation rates for for six of the nine faith practices when compared to the results of the previous twelve years of poll data. While the frequency of personal religious activities are declining, group activities are stable and some, such as youth group attendance, are increasing.
Teenagers value relationships and Christianity is a relational religion. Is your congregation’s current youth ministry driven primarily by programs or relationships? How have you configured weekly youth group gatherings to emphasize the relational aspects of group life? How do you capitalize on the virtual relational world, especially through social media? Are relationships an important part of your congregational DNA?